Christmas Cooking

Making food is my favourite part of Christmas and I have been planning the wood I will make for Christmas day this afternoon.

I haven't talked to Mum yet but I have already decided I will be in charge of salads and the vegetarian main as I am the only vegetarian, though usually everyone else eats some of it too, which is how it should be.

Plans so far

Mango and rice salad

I have made this a few times lately as I have been having a bit of a mango binge this year after not really liking them at all before. I think I smelled a mango at the Vic market a month or so back and just wanted one or six. The salad also has capsicum, red rice, white rice and green herbs and therefore fulfils my mum's desire for lots of different coloured foods (she is obsessed with this).

Green Bean and Pea salad with tarragon

Often someone makes a boring green salad and it upsets me so this year I will make one full of herbs and a few spices too.

Toss up between a cous cous salad and a lentil salad

I am leaning toward lentil as cous cous is similarish to rice. Will probably roast some tomatoes to go with the lentils and add herbs and maybe a cheese of some kind.

For the vegetarian main I am tempted by this broccoli and gorgonzola tart, though broccoli isn't necessarily great at the moment so another option is to make this surprise tatin, which I made before and looks pretty and includes cheese, I always make something with cheese in for my vegetarian main becuase I love cheese.

Even though desserts and sweet things are my favourite to make my brother is happy making dessert so I usually leave it to him. However, I will also do some baking so I can eat biscuits every day between whatever day I bake this week and New Year's day. I just found this article from the Guardian with recipes for Nordic biscuits and I think I will definitely make some of the ginger and pepper biscuits, and maybe the Vaniliekage too.

I might also make some honey biscuits with an old butter stained recipe I have had since I was a kid, you can even hang them on the tree as ornaments and they soften up and become tastier over the space of a week or so.

What are your cooking plans for the festive season?